10.10.10
I've always found the actual day of your birthday itself very surreal, especially when you have no significant other at the moment to spend it with. Before I go on, let me explain that I'm not saying that life sucks when you're single; I'm merely making the observation that when you're with someone, that someone is more or less obligated to make you feel as though the world, just for one day, revolves around you. This usually takes the form of elaborate plans and surprises, or a getaway or staycation, or something like that.
However, since no one comes into the world with a partner as a default, by default then birthdays are surreal affairs. You see, compared to other celebratory events such as Christmas or New Year's or even Halloween or ZoukOut, when the day of your birthday rolls around, you more or less commemorate it alone. Even if you spend the entire day surrounded by friends, unless one of them shares the same birth date as you, the feeling of mutual celebration isn't quite there, unlike, say, New Year's, when the year rolls around for everyone equally.
So as a consequence, every year, the hype has always led up to my birthday itself, but when the actual day rolls around, it's always spent rather understated and anti-climactic, spent mostly just like every other day, except that once in a while I stare at my watch or my computer calendar, to see the date which appears only once a year and which means no more than any other day to everyone else: 10 Oct.
Even this year, which is supposed to be some sort of jubilee or once-in-a-lifetime date, the magical 10.10.10, I remember building up the hype for this birthday as long ago as 2 years back, and then when it arrived, it came and now has almost went like a whimper. Even the days coming up to it, I had a big party on Friday night at Timbré, then last night I went to Paulaner for Oktoberfest and the magical date arrived amidst copious amounts of Oktoberfest bier and Ein Prosit-ing. And what did I do today? I slept till the afternoon, then spent time in front of the computer replying to all the birthday greetings, went to church, went for dinner with my parents, and then updated my logbook and I'm going to do laundry later. Most of the day was spent planning what I'm going to do on 11.10, 12.10, 15.10, and 16.10. Somehow, it seemed as though the magic of the 10.10.10 evaporated the moment it actually arrived.
§ Tags:
memorable memories;
pensive
§ Location:
Singapore
However, since no one comes into the world with a partner as a default, by default then birthdays are surreal affairs. You see, compared to other celebratory events such as Christmas or New Year's or even Halloween or ZoukOut, when the day of your birthday rolls around, you more or less commemorate it alone. Even if you spend the entire day surrounded by friends, unless one of them shares the same birth date as you, the feeling of mutual celebration isn't quite there, unlike, say, New Year's, when the year rolls around for everyone equally.
So as a consequence, every year, the hype has always led up to my birthday itself, but when the actual day rolls around, it's always spent rather understated and anti-climactic, spent mostly just like every other day, except that once in a while I stare at my watch or my computer calendar, to see the date which appears only once a year and which means no more than any other day to everyone else: 10 Oct.
Even this year, which is supposed to be some sort of jubilee or once-in-a-lifetime date, the magical 10.10.10, I remember building up the hype for this birthday as long ago as 2 years back, and then when it arrived, it came and now has almost went like a whimper. Even the days coming up to it, I had a big party on Friday night at Timbré, then last night I went to Paulaner for Oktoberfest and the magical date arrived amidst copious amounts of Oktoberfest bier and Ein Prosit-ing. And what did I do today? I slept till the afternoon, then spent time in front of the computer replying to all the birthday greetings, went to church, went for dinner with my parents, and then updated my logbook and I'm going to do laundry later. Most of the day was spent planning what I'm going to do on 11.10, 12.10, 15.10, and 16.10. Somehow, it seemed as though the magic of the 10.10.10 evaporated the moment it actually arrived.
§ Tags:
memorable memories;
pensive
§ Location:
Singapore